I find myself putting too much weight on my art -- I expect it to be beautiful, unique, to define me, and to make me some cash. My drawings just can't hold all that weight. It's not fair to them or to me to ask that of them. Some of them will be lovely gems that I sell again and again, and some of them wont leave the pages of my sketchbook. I never know which will be which when I'm in the process. And I shouldn't worry them about it.
I've been encouraged a bit recently by Elizabeth Gilbert's book Big Magic. I'm in the middle of it right now (it's my current bathroom book, if you must know). In one part, the "Permission" section, she talks about the freedom that can come from realizing that making art is really not that important. There are no art emergencies. The desire to create is definitely something that is innate in every human. It's a fulfilling and enjoyable endeavor, but the fate of the nations -- or even my future -- doesn't hang in the balance.
So let's play.